Black Snow
by Saber Tooth
Summary: Years after the war, Jake and Cassie still have enemies to fight with. Themselves.


# Black Snow

## Saber Tooth

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_A/N: Let it be known that I have nothing, absolutely NOTHING against black people. NOTHING. The lyrics are from __Let it Snow_ (duh), for those of you who couldn't figure it out.

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    _Oh, the weather outside is frigthful. . ._

    WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHHHH 

    The wind battered angrily at the side of the house. Inside, Jake shivered, but he fed the fire yet another log. Cassie was still asleep. 

    _But the fire is so delightful. . ._

    He sat there, staring at the fire, watching its blazing wrath slowly destroy itself.     _Like me_, he thought bitterly.     "Jake?" a sleepy voice came from the back of the room. He started at the sound.     "Cassie! You're up." She walked towards him and sat down beside him. She stared at the Christmas tree, then out the window, though part of her view was shattered by the silhouette of the menorah. After all, Jake was half Jewish, and even if they both went to Chruch and accepted God into their lives fully, he still liked to keep that little bit of heritage inside him, anyway.     "What are you doing up so early?" she asked him.     "I could ask you the same question."     "I couldn't sleep."     "Cassie?" Jake began. This was a sensitive topic. . . "Do you ever think... you know, of the war?" Even though the fight with the Yeerks was over now, Jake still was at war with himself.     "Always," she said, in a soft whisper. "I'll go make some coffee." That's how it usually was when the conversation wound that way. Jake wasn't surprised. He didn't like to think about it either, but he needed to know if he was the only one who hadn't put it behind him. 

    As Cassie strode away, Jake's words followed her. _Do you ever think about the war?_ Of course she did. Every day, the smallest thing would remind her. A snail on the ground, a visit to her old house, Tom (even though he was free now.)     The snow outside was coming down hard. It was below freezing out. Cassie's heart felt the same way. Silently, she wondered if it could be snowing inside her heart, as well as outside.     _If it was_, she thought bitterly, _it would be black snow_. Black. The color of fear and hate. The color of Darkness. She looked at her skin. Black. Like the clouds slowly clouding over her heart. It was the first time she despised herself for being dark-skinned. As she chanced a look out the window, she saw the snow coming down. She saw the soil, now barely visible, being slowly covered up by more white snow. The black of the dirt was fading away.     Could it be? Was it possible she could forget the war? Put all her sins and murders and hate behind her?     No. She couldn't forget. She wasn't sure she wanted to. An old quote rang inside her head.     _God, let us laugh, but don't ever let us ever forget that we cried._

    Cassie shook her head and smiled a grim smile. She and Jake had been thinking about going up to his parents' house for this Christmas, but she was glad they decided against it. They would have been caught in the road, their car snowed over, possibly never to be found again at the rate it was snowing. 

    _And since we've no place to go. . ._

    Cassie knew she couldn't spend the rest of her life in the past. She had vowed never to let that happen as soon as the war had ended, and now, here she was, doing exactly what they all had promised themselves not to do. 

    That day, a new Cassie was born. Maybe not in body, but in soul, heart, and spirit. She held her head up and smiled to herself, sincerely this time. She decided that coffee wouldn't sound like such a bad idea. 

    Jake had been struggling with similar thoughts, and decided that, there were five -- six, really -- Animorphs when he had started leading his little group of rebels. Now, after the war, there were six. Jake figured this was good enough. They had defeated the Yeerks, saved Earth, and resumed their lives. Nothing was the same, anymore, of course. They all used their powers for entertainment now, or if they had to be somewhere, they could simply morph bird and fly. They no longer had to keep their identity secret, so everyone already knew about them. A soft sound behind Jake snapped him back into reality and he realized Cassie was standing over him, holding out his mug of coffee. He accepted it, and Cassie sat down on the floor next to him, slowly sipping from hers.     "Jake?" she said. 

    _Let it snow. . ._

    "Yes, Cassie?" 

    _Let it snow. . ._

    "Merry Cristmas." She smiled sincerely, something Jake had rarely seen her do since they met Elfangor. 

    "Merry Christmas to you, too, Cassie." He leaned forward and gently kissed her on the lips. 

    _Let it snow._


End file.
